Tag Archives: Species at Risk

Animals, Rivers & Oceans

At-risk fin whales are in hot water with protection downgrade, LNG, and climate change

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Conservation groups are alarmed that the status of fin whales as a threatened species on Canada’s West Coast is about to be downgraded just as the dangers of LNG shipping and climate change are on the rise. 

The global population of the sleek, fast moving whale — dubbed the greyhound of the sea and named for the dorsal fin near its tail — was decimated by industrial whaling, which lasted until the1980s. Canada’s Pacific fin whale population was listed as threatened in May 2005 and was legally protected under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) the following year. 

That protection may now be weakened after the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) concluded fin whales numbers are increasing and  reclassified it as a species of special concern in 2019.

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Cost of Climate Change, Environment, Youth

Youth in historic climate case get their day in Ontario court

By Morgan Sharp, National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It’s been a long time coming, but the seven young people who sued the Ontario government after Doug Ford dismantled the province’s climate policies and downgraded its emissions targets will finally get their day in court this week. 

Three, in fact. But they will be virtual appearances. 

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Animals

Monarch Butterflies Listed As Endangered

Editor’s note: According to a University of Victoria study, the Vancouver Island population has been considered highly vulnerable since 2014, when it was listed as ‘threatened’ by the British Columbia Species at Risk Act. Cortes Island naturalist Gorge Sirk added, “there are no Monarchs here.”

By Dean LaBerge, The Grizzly Gazette, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

For the first time ever, the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) “red list”, categorized as endangered. The IUCN was created in 1948 and is now recognized as the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, with more than 1,400 member organizations and 15,000 experts. According to the IUCN website, they are effectively known as “the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.”

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Forests

Confusion around the proposed Anvil Lake logging road

Cortes Currents published a factually incorrect story about the proposed Anvil Lake logging road on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.

Few people knew this, because I pulled the story before it was broadcast on Cortes Radio.

Nick Reed, a local resident, told me, “The concern is mainly the wetlands that this road has to go through, and what effect that will have on Gunflint (and Anvil) Lakes. It is the last wetland on the southern part of Cortes.”

Mark Lombard, general manager of the Cortes Forestry General Partnership (CFGP),  responded, “The CFGP never builds roads through wetlands.”

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Animals, Justice, Tourism

Scuba diver fined $12K for getting too close to killer whales

By Kaitlyn Bailey,  Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A provincial court judge has fined a scuba diver $12,000 for getting too close to a pod of killer whales near the Prince Rupert Harbour – the largest fine to be ordered for this type of offence.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said Aug. 22 that Thomas Gould, a scuba diver and owner of a commercial dive vessel, knowingly entered the water too close to a pod of seven northern resident killer whales near Prince Rupert Harbour on Apr. 25, 2020.

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